Cherryville's Whisnant could be Florida State's hidden weapon this season

Tuesday

Nov 6, 2012 at 12:01 AMNov 6, 2012 at 11:23 AM

Richard Walker

CHARLOTTE – Last month, when coaches, players and media participated in the ACC’s annual Operation Basketball preview news conferences, much of the talk centered on preseason favorite N.C. State and perennial powers Duke and North Carolina.

While defending champion Florida State drew some attention, most figured the Seminoles to have another solid season as indicated by their fourth-place preseason pick.

Seminoles players like Charlotte’s Ian Miller were careful not to say they felt they were being disrespected. But it’s clear Miller, the son of former Belmont Abbey College standout Julian Miller, and his teammates are quite confident they’ll be able to repeat last year’s success.

And Miller, among others, cited the development of Cherryville’s Terry Whisnant as a key reason for their high expectations as they prepare for Friday’s 7 p.m. season and home opener against South Alabama.

“We work out together and you can just see his game going to another level,” Miller said of Whisnant, the two-time Gazette player of the year who finished his career in 2011 as Gaston County’s all-time leading scorer with 2,561 points. “I think he’ll be ready to really produce this year.”

As a freshman, Whisnant went through the learning curve of a standout high school player trying to learn to play at the highest level of college basketball. While Whisnant had a pair of 11-point games – in nonconference contests against UNC-Greensboro and Florida – he didn’t play at all in 10 games, including five ACC contests, two ACC tournament games and one of the Seminoles’ NCAA tournament games. Whisnant finished with averages of 2.1 points, 1.0 rebounds and 7.7 minutes in 25 games last year.

This season, Gastonia’s Leonard Hamilton, the Seminoles’ 11th year head coach and a 1966 graduate of old Highland High School, has frequently said he expects Whisnant to be a top performer and spent the preseason saying he wanted the high school 3-point sharpshooter to take whatever open shots he finds this season.

“I tell our players he can shoot if he sees the orange,” Hamilton said of the color of the basketball rim. “I don’t do that for many players. I’ll do that for him.”

In two preseason exhibitions, Whisnant hasn’t taken all that many shots, but he’s been effective from long range; He drained all three 3-point attempts (and four of five overall) in an 83-75 victory over Lincoln Memorial on Oct. 30 and hit one of five 3-pointers in a 65-56 victory over St. Leo on Monday.

“Terry has a chance to play the role I played last year,” said Miller, who was Florida State’s top scorer off the bench at 10.3 points per game. “His ballhandling has gotten a lot better because he worked really hard in the summer.

“When Terry first got here, I think he was shocked at the talent we had on the team. But his confidence is where it needs to be right now. He’s coming on and making plays. He’s slashing, he’s shooting…. He’s shooting the ball probably the best since he’s been in college. It’s all a mindset and confidence.”

Whisnant and Miller have been close since Whisnant chose Florida State as his school of choice before his senior year of high school.

“Terry’s like a little brother to me,” Miller said. “We do just about everything together. We’ll go practice together and play video games four or five hours. Me, him and (senior preseason all-conference pick) Mike (Snaer) were in the gym all summer long.”

Whisnant’s choice of video games is a throwback to his athletic past; Whisnant was a standout quarterback and receiver at Chavis Middle School and Cherryville High before focusing all of his attention to basketball.

“He likes football a lot,” Miller said of Whisnant’s love for video games. “He plays RG3 (Washington Redskins’ rookie Robert Griffin III) now. And he runs the ball every time. It’s hard to stop him.”

Whisnant and the Seminoles certainly hope they will be hard to stop – on the hardwood – this season.

“Homecoming” visits

Whisnant will be making seven visits in the area this season, including a Dec. 22 2 p.m. game at Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena against the Charlotte 49ers.